Cryo stem cell bank: faster transplantation for leukemia

According to DKMS, cryopreserved stem cells only take three days between the first request and transportation to the clinic - previously, the process of finding a donor to transplantation took several weeks. Another advantage is that they can be stored without the donors being present and are available immediately. This approach is unique worldwide, very uncomplicated and ethically sound, said the medical director of the DKMS Stem Cell Bank. Originally founded as an umbilical cord blood bank, it has many years of experience and extensive expertise in cryopreservation.

As Platz reported, many donors mobilize significantly more stem cells than a sick person actually needs. With their consent, the remaining cells are stored at minus 180 degrees Celsius in the gas phase above liquid nitrogen. In this way, two lives could be saved with a single donation.

According to DKMS, a person is diagnosed with blood cancer every 27 seconds worldwide, in Germany every twelve minutes. For many of the leukemia patients who need a stem cell transplant, the search for a genetic twin is "a race against time". Only around a third find a match within the family, the majority have to rely on other people, whereby specific tissue characteristics have to match as closely as possible. The earlier there is a match and the donation arrives, "the better the chances of survival and long-term recovery".